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OCC’s Email Newsletter

This is the first issue of a newsletter that will be going out occasionally to our email list. If you would like to receive it by email, please visit the subscribe page. Or you will also be able to read each issue on the public archive for the newsletter at http://groups.google.com/group/occ-news, and that page also offers other ways to subscribe, via different feed options.

Welcome to the first issue of the new OCC newsletter. We hope you find it interesting and useful. It will come out about once or twice a month, more frequent only for special circumstances or important breaking news about our work. We know you are busy and have an already overflowing inbox.

We are going to be making the old Yahoo Group into a more general discussion list for those who choose to participate in a conversation about Oklahoma peacemaking, GI Rights work, alternatives to militarism and the like. You can join by sending an email to okobjector-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or, you can visit the web page for that group, groups.yahoo.com/group/okobjector, where you can unsubscribe or update your membership (such as to a less-frequent mailing).

Action alert!
We need motivated, energetic folks to help with our alternatives to military service project. There are roles to play in front and behind the scenes. See below under events.

OCC activities

Rethink Afghanistan film
Our screening on 10/14 was the Oklahoma premiere of this important and timely documentary. We had a gread discussion afterward, and signed a petition “Demand Civilian Solutions for Afghanistan” which the producer provided. You can sign and learn more at rethinkafghanistan.org.

Article published
Moses Mast wrote a wonderful article explaining our GI Rights work, and it has been published in the latest issue of the Peace Strategy News, the newspaper of the Oklahoma City Peace House www.peacehouseok.org. It’s also posted on our web site, www.centerforconscience.org.

We continue to operate the Oklahoma GI Rights Hotline, and coordinate associated servicemember legal support, which is our largest expense. If you are moved to help with this project, our mailing address is below, or you can check our web site, where you can donate with a credit card.

Upcoming OCC events:

Help our youth find “Work Without War”
We’re having a hastily called meeting on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1pm at Joy Mennonite Church to do some counter-recruitment planning. Please join us if you can, or email us with your interest in future meetings of this project. We will be doing outreach not just in schools, but at public events, and at recruiting stations.

November Business Meeting
We’re rescheduled the November meeting from the usual first Sunday to the second Sunday of the month instead. So join us on Nov. 8 at 1pm at Joy Mennonite Church, 504 NE 16th. Among other things, we’ll have a report from our GI Rights hotline attorney, James Branum, on the recent National Lawyers Guild conference, where he was one of the presenters of the workshop on courts-martial.

2009 Fall Peace Festival
We will again be at the Fall Peace Festival sponsored by the Peace House. Please stop by our table and say hi. We are hoping to have a place for folks to sign holday cards and write letters to GI resisters who are serving sentences for their refusal to fight an illegal immoral war. If you would like to help with the table, contact Rena at 405.615.2700.

Other news of interest:

The Honest Recruiter
New updated edition of Sgt. Abe, the Honest Recruiter is now available.This is THE essential counter-recruitment tool, so make some copies and have them handy for distribution to anyone thinking of joining the military, or of recruitable age. They should make the decision with ALL the facts, and not the selected spin given by recruiters. The site also has the handout in Spanish, as well as a video.http://thehonestrecruiter.org/

Obama’s War
PBS did outstanding work with its Frontline documentary Bush’s War. Now they reexamine the subject with Obama in the White House. It has prompted a lot of discussion as to whether it’s too soon to criticize the new president for the problems he inherited, or whether the anti-war movement is being too lenient on the new commander in chief when he is continuing, or expanding, Bush’s militaristic policies. What do you think? Watch the film at the link below and let us know.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/